The US is grappling with a severe shortage of affordable housing, exacerbated by rising construction costs and restrictive land use regulations. 🌟🏗️ Traditional site-built construction methods struggle to keep pace with demand, hindered by fragmentation and a scarcity of skilled labor. Enter modular housing: a game-changing solution gaining traction in the quest for affordable housing. Fabricated off-site in controlled factory settings, modular homes offer cost savings and streamlined construction processes. But what sets them apart from mobile or manufactured homes? Unlike their counterparts, modular homes are assembled on-site and affixed to permanent foundations, meeting the same standards as traditional builds. As policymakers explore avenues to curb construction costs, modular housing emerges as a promising solution. https://lnkd.in/dXTbQrd8 How do you envision the role of modular housing in addressing the housing affordability crisis? 🤔 Ken Semler Gary Fleisher Greg Otto Andrew Seelye Alan Milne Scott Bailey Mike Gruber Ben Hershey Colby Swanson Brent Musson Tom Hardiman, Jennifer Castenson Dave Clevenger Charles Leahy Chris Lawrence Darin Zaruba Kacy Caviston Ryan E. Smith Curtis Wong Vamsi Kumar Kotla Santiago Ossa Doug Tollin Daniel Small, Alon Kessler Andrew Xue Matt Mitchell Diego Rivera Dafna Kaplan Brian Sayre Joshua Braun Vaughan Buckley Steven Haylestrom Sara.Ann Logan Nick Masci Konstantin Daskalov
Nol, modular is, no doubt, a key component for systemically addressing housing affordability. I'll take it one step further and point out that modular has the potential to offer affordable housing **even to extremely low-income families in developing economies** when you design the modules to be human-scale so that the houses can be self-built (removes all labor costs and packs more efficiency in transportation). Few people have as much clarity and experience in this as Fernando Barcenas Aguilar
Our industry has not been really good at "starting from scratch." Too many modular builders execute modular projects "the way we always do it" in the same way that in-situ stick builders build "the way it's always been done." We have the opportunity to innovate in ways that have seldom or never been done! WE're INVENTING the norm...as we go. Every modular project doesn't require a crane; every space in a finished modular building doesn't have to begin as a box in the factory; plumbing doesn't have to take the same path to the stack; etc. etc. etc. Let's innovate — let's THINK and not conform
Thanks for the link to this paper. Lots of data which I am still digesting. I would have liked to see prebuilt ADUs analyzed though the LIHTC is skewed toward traditional affordable housing projects. Using ADUs as part of a voluntary infill development can minimize the years that multi-family building or subdivision projects can take to get approvals. The author is spot on regarding capital issues for developers and affordability issues for renters. As a SRO landlord renting out rooms in shared homes (a form of cohousing) I am interested in giving away green prebuilt ADUs to low- and fixed-income homeowners along bus routes in exchange for 10 years of a below market master lease to a community nonprofit housing their clients. I’m looking for collaborators as I think this ADU exchange concept is a more cost effective way than just providing temporary housing. Struggling homeowners can provide affordable housing. Neighborhood diversity improves. Potentially less loneliness as hosts and residents help each other. If a portion of rent goes toward a building fund more ADUs can be built. If a portion of rent is deposited in a resident Roth IRA portable equity can possibly build intergenerational wealth.
The possibilities are endless with offsite modular construction. The industry is in its infant stage relitave to its site built counterpart and is in the process of transformative innovation. Modular housing and offsite construction is adding a colorful future to making a dent in the affordable housing space.
The simple truth of the matter is that most likely, in the room you're sitting in now, the only product not factory made is the room itself. So while my favorite anecdote for modular construction is the car-on-the-front-lawn (thanks Ken Semler), perhaps it's time to realize that just like with any other product, industrializing the product is the best way to get an affordable cost - and modular is industrialization at it's finest. Someone once told me that construction is a tailor-made business. I asked him when last had he bought clothes at a tailor, and how many ordinary people do so. Thanks for the heads up, Nolan Browne!
That's why we're already developing the second-generation VEGO. By incorporating automotive-style manufacturing into construction, we plan to produce a 409-square-foot VEGO Hüsli every minute. Imagine creating 26,000 small homes per month – it's astounding, but soon to be a reality. Additionally, these homes will meet passive house standards and be strong enough to withstand a Category 5 hurricane or a major earthquake.
“Modular”, “manufactured”, “off-site”, “site-built” are adopted catch phrases. All characterize variation in the business model of the build. Versatility and integration pays little homage to representational descriptions. The only role modular housing will meet is that which it has defined itself as meeting. As long as someone wants a modular structure, you’re in.
Today at the Hickory Campus of Appalachian State University Rob Howard is teaching a course "Sustainable is Attainable! Affordable Zero Energy Ready Homes". Rob is building Zero Energy Ready Homes for $150/sqft and we have shown him a pathway to $125/sqft. Come one come all! Crash the course! 😀 We hope to soon be coming to a community near you! https://energy.appstate.edu/outreach/workshops/sustainable-attainable-affordable-zero-energy-homes-hickory
How's the timeline looking Gilbert Meier ?
MD GUR Build UK ltd nZeb "Housing" System. Platform H specialist. Passive Haus products developer.
7moWe need people to understand that this “can”be solved, we need to collaborate as an industry, drop bias and ego and look at solutions that we can deliver together today, there isn’t one solution or a mega factory that can produce it, we need to be far more flexible with the approach, everyone can help , from making the tea to digging the ground, it can be done!